Celebrating the Opening Ceremony!

Real talk: I celebrate Olympic opening ceremonies the way most of America celebrates the Super Bowl. It's the thing I look forward to. It's serious business. I do not flip away during commercials, I do not stop paying attention during the parade of nations, and if you talk while it's on TV I will tell you to shut up. And maybe throw in some serious stink-eye.

Opening ceremony day is like my own personal national holiday, which is kind of a bummer when the rest of the world is intent on doing its normal thing. But thankfully, for this Olympiad, I'm working at one of very few places that understands. So, for this Olympiad, I actually got to celebrate!

The festivities started in the morning with a Team USA torch lighting ceremony at the Olympic Training Center, so that came with the added benefit of returning to my old stomping grounds and seeing some folks I hadn't seen since I left in December. :) There was breakfast, and then we went up to the roof and the U.S. Paralympic sledge hockey team lit the cauldron!

Then it was off to work. My hours during the Olympics are understandably bizarre, seeing as we have to compensate for an 11-hour time difference, so my shift was 10 a.m.-3 p.m. MT. It was awesome because, with the time difference, I started work smack in the middle of the opening ceremony. My assignment? Create a photo gallery!

Let me break it down for you. Opening ceremonies are my jam. The Winter Olympics are my jam. So making a photo gallery of a Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony as it was happening was just... indescribable. :)

The festivities continued at 5 p.m. that evening, with an Olympic celebration extravaganza in downtown Colorado Springs. I put in some extra time at work to hang around until 5, and then walked a block to see what was what and spend some time with some cool people. There'd been an Olympic celebration over the summer that I'd gone to, and this one was pretty similar. There were sport information booths and demonstrations (including snowmobile jumping), and a big screen where the opening ceremony would be aired.

It's things like this that remind me why I love the Olympics so much. It's that community, festival-like feeling. Everyone was decked out in their Team USA finest, drinking hot chocolate or vodka (da, Russia!), ringing cowbells and cheering. It's a unity and palpable excitement that you don't really get on this large a scale during any other time.

I, however, decided to leave after a relatively short time. Why? 1) It was cold. Much warmer than the negative temperatures of the previous few days, yes, but even after 45 minutes my face was going numb. I would've been miserable before the ceremony even started. And 2) I need to be able to sit and watch and concentrate and get emotional. So I headed home, scarfed down some dinner and snuggled up on the couch. And, let me tell ya, it was fabulous. And my thoughts on the ceremony will be a post entirely their own!

How did everyone else spend Opening Ceremony day? :)

8 Reasons Why Olympics Time is The Best Time

I'm having a really, really hard time believing London 2012 was a year and a half ago, but it's true: as of tomorrow, Sochi 2014 is officially upon us! Say it with me: TO-MOR-ROW! And I don't know about you, but I am SO. EXCITED. Shocker, right? Well, if you're less enthused about the Olympics than I am, here are some reasons why that needs to change. Like, ASAP.

+Because you get to watch sports you don't usually get to see. I don't know about you, but there's only so much football I can take. And the Super Bowl is over, folks, and it's on every single year. What's so special about that?! I don't know about you, but I don't see much Nordic combined on TV in non-Olympic years! So go ahead and watch all those random sports you never see, 'cause this is your last chance for four years! Soak in the ski jumping. Soak it in.

+Because you get to expand your worldly knowledge. What does Montenegro's flag look like? Where exactly is Serbia? How on earth does a kid from Africa become a skier? Well, you're gonna find out!

+Because you finally have a reason to wear all the patriotic stuff you have laying around.

(Jeez, do we think I have enough? And this is just the stuff I have with me in Colorado! Though, to be fair, the sweatshirt was a gift, the zip-up next to it was work swag, and the zip-up below it was a prize. Fun fact: that USA Hockey shirt is a boys' youth large. #sorrynotsorry. And don't even ask about the socks, because I have nooooo idea.)

Not pictured: the legit full-size American flag I bought when I was in London during the Olympics. Which brings me to...

+Because you finally have an excuse to be obnoxiously patriotic and proud of your country. When it comes to patriotism at the Olympics, it's go big or go home. I showed up with a tiny little handheld American flag and was utterly ashamed, hence my giant flag purchase. Totally rocked that sucker at the men's triathlon, let me tell you! If you're not screaming your throat raw during the USA vs. Canada gold medal hockey game, you're doing it wrong.

Please note that I did not make this meme. There are others like me out there! ;) [x]

+Because of the stories. At the Olympics, nobody is there for fame and fortune. It's full of people competing for the love of their sport, many doing so despite sub-par funding, zero publicity and all kinds of obstacles. Literally everyone there has an amazing story. Let's not even get started talking about the Paralympics! (And uh, hello, the Jamaican bobsled team is BACK!)

+Because now you can be nocturnal for a reason. "Why am I up so late? Because curling starts at 3 a.m. in this timezone. Duh!"

+Because of all the wonderful commercials that make you cry.

 

+Because, for three weeks, the whole country (and the whole world) is united. And that, my friends, is awesome.


Happy Olympics, everybody!

Blaze(r) of Glory

This is my second post in a row using Bon Jovi song titles/lyrics in my post title! *high fives self*

Today, I want to talk about a blazer. This blazer, in fact:

I saw this beauty while shopping with my mom in late 2012 (or early 2013. Before the spring semester of 2013, in any case). I was immediately in love because, hello, look at it. But it was also more than I wanted to spend, despite the fact that I WAS looking to buy professional-type clothes.

When I told my mom that I wasn't going to get it for myself, she said, "Than I'll get it for you. It's too perfect for you not to get it."

I'm sure I thanked her profusely, being the fantabulous daughter that I am, but the only thing I remember saying is, "I'm going to wear this when I interview for a job at the USOC."

Yes folks, I pulled a Babe Ruth and called my shot.

It was an odd call to make, too, since unless I was already in Colorado Springs, this hypothetical interview I was talking about would be conducted over the phone and attire would be a moot point. But hey, dream big, right?

So the blazer came home with me, and then went to Miami with me as I began my final semester as a student and intern in the athletic department. I tucked it away in my closet, not wanting to wear it just anywhere. I mean, the office I worked in was way too casual, and it was just too beautiful to "waste" on an average day! So it laid in wait until Duke basketball rolled into town. I was on the schedule to work that game, and decided it was the blazer's time to shine. Hosting the No. 1 team in the country in front of a sold-out arena and ESPN primetime cameras is a worthy occasion, amirite?

Well, the occasion turned out to be even worthier than anticipated, as my then-unranked Canes demolished Duke by over 20 points. The whole night was electric, the student section rushed the court, and the Cinderella season had officially begun. Basically, it was perfect. I firmly believed my blazer had some awesome juju going on, so it went back into my closet to await the next perfect occasion.

Lo and behold, nine months later, I was asked to interview with the USOC while I was living in Colorado Springs. My bold prediction had come true! I was going to wear this blazer when I interviewed with the USOC! I'd never been so excited and confident going into an interview, and I walked out of there positively elated with myself.

And then... I didn't get the job.

I was equal parts devastated and furious, and it snapped me out of my belief that this blazer had any special meaning. Um, hello, it's just fabric. Any specialness that I'd attributed to it was solely in my head.

So along comes January. I'm at home in New York and unemployed, when I'm contacted by a different department at the USOC for an interview. It ended up getting scheduled for the same day I got the email about it, mere hours later, a day that I'd spent digging out my room and wearing giant, slouchy pajamas. I briefly thought of breaking out my blazer and fancying myself up, but then I thought... why? Nobody was going to see me except myself. All getting dressed up would do was cut into the limited time I could've spent preparing. It wasn't going to make me perform any better or feel more confident in myself! So I decided to prepare. My blazer stayed in my closet (heck, I don't think I'd even unpacked it from my suitcase yet), I did my interview homework, and it was a great interview conducted from the most comfy clothes I own that are probably about eight sizes too big for me.

Blazer or no blazer, I got the job.

I'm not one to be superstitious or give articles of clothing such extreme importance, and I can (hopefully) honestly say I won't do it again. I mean, if I can get my dream job in flannel pants a foot too long for me, what on earth is so special about a blazer?

...But that didn't mean I wasn't going to wear it on my first day of work. ;)

You know you were missing awkward, low-quality photos in your life. Don't lie.

Has anyone else gotten all misty over a piece of clothing that was supposed to be "special"? Please, tell me I'm not totally crazy!

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

Hello friends!

If that photo didn't give you a hint, I'm back in Colorado and officially a resident of Colorado Springs again. And I'm thrilled! But it's also really, really weird.

It reminds me of the beginning of my sophomore year of college. I was SO EXCITED to get back to school, and see my friends, and go back to all my favorite places, and it was going to be just like freshman year and be THE ABSOLUTE BEST. But then I got there, and I was living in a different building, and going to different classes, and it was just different even though I was in the same place with the same people. I was basically homesick for the way things were. I got over it, of course, but it was a jarring few days of adjusting.

It's exactly like that now. I'm back in the same city with (most of) the same people, but everything else is wildly different. I'm living in northern Colorado Springs and will be working in central Colorado Springs, as opposed to the opposite. I have a shared apartment instead of a room in a dorm, and my friends are 10 miles away in that dorm, if not scattered around the city. I have to cook for myself and clean the bathroom that I don't have to share with an entire floor's worth of people. I'll be driving past the USA Volleyball office every day on my way to my new job. I brought my dad to see the OTC yesterday, only to discover that I couldn't get into any of the facilities! All buildings now require badge access (hello, new development) and there was a new security guy at the front and, what the heck, I so do not live there anymore.

It's weird and kind of emotional and weird. Did I mention that it's weird?

But it's going to be awesome. Seriously. My roommate is fantastic, and on Thursday she leaves for Sochi and will be gone for almost all of February, so I'll have the apartment to myself! Speaking of the apartment, I'm pretty stoked to no longer need shower shoes. And have an absurdly large closet. And all sorts of other apartment-y things. It's kind of hard furnishing a room when you have no idea how long you'll be living there, but I'm pretty happy with it! It just needs some stuff hanging on the walls and it'll be home.

I'll return soon with pictures and stories from the road trips and move-in day, but for now, I'm feeling feel-y, so that's what you get. :) Can't wait to settle into my new normal!

Hope your last five days have involved less driving, heavy lifting and general stress than mine have! (Unless you're into that sort of thing. Hey, no judgment here.)